Whether applying for a pay review or a promotion, all professors at the University of York are expected to satisfy all of the following criteria:

• Outstanding intellectual distinction and internationally recognised and sustained excellence in research, including where appropriate the application of research to the benefit of society;
• Evidence of effective approaches in, and sustained commitment to, teaching and the promotion of learning or, in the case of research staff, evidence of major contributions to developing and sustaining a strong research environment;
• Effective and sustained academic citizenship involving a high level of responsibility;
• Leadership through the encouragement of research and/or its application among members of staff and suitably qualified students, the organisation and development of teaching, the mentoring and support of junior colleagues, and/or the performance of a significant leadership and management role e.g. Head of Department.

Band 1

Professors in Band 1 are individuals of outstanding intellectual distinction who are internationally recognised for their sustained excellence in research and, where appropriate, its application to the benefit of society. They take on high-level responsibilities and provide leadership, within their department and the University, in research, teaching and/or knowledge transfer.

Non-teaching research professors make a major contribution to developing and sustaining a strong research environment.

All other professors demonstrate excellence in and commitment to teaching and the promotion of learning, and in some cases their exceptional performance as teachers is valued as a particular strength. In order to progress above the Band 1 Bar, professors must show that their performance at the outstanding levels described above continues on an upward trajectory.

Band 2

Professors in Band 2 satisfy all of the criteria for Professors in Band 1, but are additionally recognised as being international leaders of exceptional calibre in research and, where appropriate, its application in their fields, signalled not only by their substantial records of achievement but also by significant marks of esteem from their peers in the UK and abroad.

Where they are involved in the application of their research, it has a measurable impact on the creation of economic, social or cultural capital. They undertake important leadership and/or managerial roles which impact on the wider University community and beyond. They have clearly demonstrated outstanding leadership in activities well beyond their own research and teaching fields.

In addition, non-teaching research professors sustain and manage major research programmes involving large groups of researchers, including the training of new researchers. All other professors in this band are able and influential teachers, committed to the promotion of learning.

Band 3

Band 3 is reserved for a small number of professors who perform at the very highest level that could be expected. Professors in Band 3 satisfy all of the criteria for Professors in Bands 1 and 2, but are also recognised as world leaders; not only because their research and, where appropriate, its application is universally acknowledged as being at the forefront of their own subject areas, but because of its formative and lasting contribution to their whole academic disciplines.

They are outstandingly able and influential teachers, committed to the promotion of learning and undertake high-level leadership roles within and outside the University, in the national and international community, both within their field and more broadly.

Research- or teaching-only professors

Applicants on research only contracts will be expected to show a greater quantity of high quality outputs and/or success in winning more research grant income, in keeping with the proportion of time they have to pursue research activities in order to be successful in application for promotion or pay review.

Likewise, applicants on teaching and scholarship only contracts will be expected to have made a larger contribution in this area than their colleagues on ART contracts in order to be successful in application for promotion or pay review.